Crew of the Battleship
by MorgothII
Summary: (Set after the events of Battleship of Equestria) Cluny the Slaver, Henry Holman, and Gu'klas and their army has been utterly destroyed. Now it is the time for Captain Jacob Holman, Captain of the USS Fuso, to help his friends and family rebuild the shattered land of Ponyville and Equestria. Join him and his men in this journey of family and friendship. One-shots and short series
1. Chapter 1

**Crew of the Battleship Chapter One: Father and Daughter**

 **MorgothII: Hello my fellow writers/readers! This series will be a mini-sequel for Battleship of Equestria. It will focus on the individual members of the crew of the** _ **USS Fuso**_ **and the others from the first story. This one will be father/daughter bonding between Captain Jacob Holman and Lightning Dust. Enjoy!**

 **July 3** **rd** **, 1942 7:45 PM**

 **Ponyville…**

 **(Jacob's POV)**

"Okay, steady now! Big Mac, Burns, Franklin! Y'all get the ropes on the right side! Jacob, Satsuma! Yah two are with me on the left!" Applejack, the Element of Honesty, says as the sky begins to turn to dusk. We have been working around the town for the past week non-stop. I had given the first priority had been to build houses for everyone. With speed that would put construction crews to shame, we swiftly rebuilt every single house by the third day. Now we were moving on to secondary structures like stores and such. I had taken some of my crewmates from my battleship, the _USS Fuso_ , and started to help the earth pony farmer in rebuilding her barn. Working together as a well-oiled machine, we had quickly placed nearly all the walls up, along with the roof. We just have one last wall to put up and then we are done for the day.

I grin to myself. Tomorrow will be Independence Day back home in America. While the holiday is more significant to me and my fellow Americans, the others, both men and ponies had encouraged me to do something to celebrate the first earth/Equestria celebration holiday. I had asked Pinkie Pie, the town's energetic pink earth pony 'party master' and Element of Laughter, to organize one of her famed parties. In addition, I had secretly requested for fireworks as a surprise for my family. While I haven't proposed to Princess Luna yet, pretty much everyone knows that we are already virtually husband and wife. And I do plan on taking care of our official status later. For now, I want to treat her and our newly-adopted daughter to a special treat tomorrow night.

Suddenly two light blue blurs go right by us, causing the three of us to accidently let go of the rope. "Look out!" Satsuma warns while the stallion and two Americans on the right side struggle to keep their grip on the ropes. It is a futile effort, however, and the wooden section falls to the ground. I let out a small sigh of relief when I see that it is still in one piece. Then I let out a low, frustrated growl as I turn my head to the sky as the two streaks, one cyan and the other turquoise, continue to fly around in the air.

I turn to my fellow friends/workers. "Cover your ears," I say gruffly as I take a deep breath, activating my alicorn magic. I really hate having to amplify my voice, but I will admit that it has repeatedly been proven useful in the past. I wait until I see that the others have followed my instructions before I open my mouth.

"LIGHTNING DUST! RAINBOW DASH! GET YOUR PLOTS DOWN HERE _NOW_!"

Instantly the two blurs change their movement and streak towards the ground, landing right in front of me. I deactivate my magic before staring at the two pegasi mares responsible. The cyan mare on the right is the Element of Loyalty, Wonderbolt, and my daughter's best friend, Rainbow Dash. She avoids looking at her fellow Element and friend Applejack with her magenta eyes as the hat-wearing, southern-speaking mare delivers one of the sternest stares I have ever seen at the mare with the rainbow-colored mane. Then I turn my attention to the other mare with a slightly sterner expression than the one I gave RD, the reason being that the other culprit for this mishap is my very own daughter.

Lightning Dust's brilliant gamboge-colored eyes look down to the ground slightly in embarrassment, unwilling to look me, her father, in the eye. Her golden-crested, yellow and orange mane, cut in a Mohawk, is dampened slightly by sweat that is also present on her forehead, no doubt from her little race with Dash. She holds her head down slightly, but in my frustration I don't fully register this. At least my daughter isn't going to try to be defiant or anything, like she would have been once. I take a deep breath and address the duo in a quieter and steady but slightly aggravated tone.

"I'm not sure which one of you has disappointed me more today. I know you race as a way to relax and hang out and what not, but this is not cool. You both know that tomorrow is a very busy day, but you have set us back on schedule because your race. I don't know what on earth could have possibly convinced you that this was acceptable. Rainbow Dash." Said mare flinches slightly even though I am not shouting. I continue on regardless. "You _know_ how important rebuilding the barn is to AJ. She needs somewhere to house her new supplies and store her future harvests once the trees arrive, but it won't happen until they can be fully protected." I pause and then turn to Dust. She opens her mouth to address me.

"Dad, I-"

I cut her off with a simple gesture of raising my right hoof in a _stop_ gesture. "We'll talk more about this later. But I want you to understand that I want you to stop being this reckless. I told you that I was planning on building a gym and track course for you to work out and race at, but now this is also going to be delayed. I understand that you two did not mean for this to happen, and no one was hurt. I won't be punishing either of you this time. What I will give you, however, is a warning. If this happens again, there will be serious consequences. Am I understood?"

At this point I stare pointedly at both mares, but mostly LD. Maybe I am being harsh, but now is not the time to worry about that. Both of the young pegasi nod in understanding, and I let out a long sigh. "Very well, then. You two can go. I'll see you in several hours for dinner, Lightning." With that, I turn around as they walk away towards Rainbow Dash's house. I feel a tap on the shoulder. I turn around to face a stone-faced Applejack.

"Don't yah think you were kinda hard on Lightning? It was a simple mistake like yah said. Applebloom has caused mistakes of her own that Ah have had to deal with," The orange mare reminds me. I nod my head with a sigh. I'm not going to deny that I could have done handle this better. "You're right AJ. I'll talk to her during dinner. It'll be just me and her tonight, anyways." Applejack shoots me a curious look. I answer the question before she can ask.

"Luna's helping Twilight and Princess Celestia find a way to help Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, and the surviving crystal ponies regain the Crystal Empire once more. She and Twi won't be able to be back until tomorrow for the party however. Come on, let's get the job finished before the sun sets."

 **Several hours later…**

I stand outside the door to Lightning's room, hesitating for a moment. _'Christ sake's Jacob! You're only talking to your daughter, not facing the_ Arizona _again!'_ I scold myself. I knock against the wooden door gently. "Hey, LD. Could you come out?" I ask gently. I hear movement from within the room and a second later the door opens to reveal a misty-eyed Lightning Dust. "Yes?" She asks in a slightly guarded tone. I mentally kick myself at this.

"I'm sorry for ripping into both you and RD earlier. It was just an accident, and I guess I over-reacted. I've just been under a lot of stress with helping to rebuild the entire town and nervous about tomorrow's party. I'm not mad at you," I say, wrapping a comforting wing around my adopted daughter. Dust looks up at me with clear eyes. "Thanks. And I guess I could have been more careful about my racing." I can't help but grin at that. That's one thing I've learnt about my pegasus daughter. One minute she might be down, the next she is up. Well, save for the drinking period after the Wonderbolt Academy Incident, but aside from that, she is quick at recovery. Although, I do wish that she had learnt to do this _without_ having to be an orphan.

I smile to myself as I feel her lean into my hug. Good, very good. I hate for our new relationship to be soured, especially at this early a stage. "So how about I make it up to you by making you one of your favorite foods, and one of my stories from back in America?" I ask, trying to keep my grin from spreading. My daughter, along with so many other ponies, would eagerly listen to my crew and I talk about the 'Old World', as we had come to refer to it as.

Dust grins at me. "Daisy sandwiches _and_ I get to listen to a story? Hey, yeah!" I chuckle at her energetic response. I nudge her forward with my wing, reluctantly breaking the embrace. "Well, let's get to the kitchen then. In the meantime, I'll get started with the story. You remember my second-in-command, James Froster?" Again my daughter nods, slightly hesitant as she knows that the grief over his death hasn't completely left my body. I grimace slightly as we continue walking.

"Hey, don't worry. This is a happy story. It's the time we, along with the rest of the class, pulled a prank on the Naval Academy's commander. Oh man, that was quite a thrill. Even more so because we got away with it!" I chuckle to myself. Dust is quick to join in. I have no doubt the idea that is running through her head. _Her father, pulling a prank?!_ Then we reach the kitchen. I indicate for the turquoise mare that I have taken under my wing as my own flesh and blood to take a seat while I make our dinner.

It's quick and barely five minutes later a platter of sandwiches is being demolished by us both. I finish my sandwich before continuing. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes. So the commander was a perfectionist. Drove us all mad. We understood the need/rule to keep everything tidy, but he took everything beyond reason. So one night, we all decide that once the commander was asleep, we would go to the docks. He was an avid fisherman, and had this sleek, dark-green boat that he used. For the sake of the heavens, he treated it like it was his own child!" Lightning Dust continues eating (thankfully with her mouth closed) and raises an eyebrow.

"So I had bought several cans of pink paint. I'm still not sure why I was picked for that, but it doesn't really matter. It was a Friday so I had been able to go to the town and buy said paint before I had returned back to the base for the night curfew. The men who were selected to be the night watch were sympathetic to our cause and were willing to look the other way once we explained the prank and that no one was going to get hurt." I pause and take another bite of a second sandwich before resuming my story. I am very pleased to see that my daughter is thoroughly engrossed by my tale, a smile building on her face.

"We went down to the dock, and quickly found the commander's ship. We opened the paint cans and quickly painted the boat a beautifully bright shade of Pinkie Pie pink. Everything was pink, even the fabric seats!" At this point I pause do to the fact that I am crouched over the table and clutching my sides from laughing. Lightning pushes her own plate forward, having finished eating for now. Her laugh joins mine for a few seconds before I calm down enough to continue my story.

"S-so early Saturday morning, we're pretending to be asleep as the commander would take his boat out early for his 'special' fishing trips. Instead of the engine going off, however, we heard something else. I doubt I will ever forget what he said," I then pause, teasing my daughter slightly. I am rewarded with a cute pout. I let out a hearty chuckle before resuming. "He said, and I quote, 'who the hell had a bunch of fairy cats shit down on my fucking boat?!"

Dust tries to keep it together and succeeds…for only a few seconds. Then she bursts out into a full-out laugh. My smile is so wide that it threatens to go flying off my face. Our laughter echoes throughout the hallway as we both fall off our chairs, laughing so hard that we are clenching our sides in an effort to sooth the aching areas. We continue laughing for the next few minutes. Then we finally get back up and return to our seats. I pant a bit, slightly winded. It feels good to have laughed that hard. The smile on my adopted daughter's face makes the pain I will probably be feeling later more than worth it.

"And-and you didn't get in any sort of trouble?" Lightning asks, equally winded. I shake my head, still having a goofy grin plastered onto my face. "Nope! The commander canceled leave for the next month, but that was about it. We had already disposed of the paint brushes and empty cans well away from the school grounds, so we were safe. And we would always tease the commander, behind his back of course, about his pink boat, even after it had been re-painted.

I smile at Dust. "So did you enjoy the story?" I get an empathic nod from her, her Mohawk a little disheveled from rolling around on the tiles while she had been laughing. "Good. I hope this makes up for losing my temper with you earlier. And don't worry, you're not punished or anything like that. Just promise me that the next time you and Dash race, you will watch where you are going?" I raise an eyebrow in a playful mock-stern face. Stifling a laugh, Lightning Dust nods. "Will do, Dad."

I grin and envelop the turquoise mare with my right wing in a fatherly hug. "I love you, LD." I can feel her grin against my chest. If Luna was here then the whole family would be here, but it is still a heartwarming-scene, especially with what I hear Lightning murmur to me next.

"Love ya too, Dad."

I enjoy the surging feeling of love in my heart. I savor it for a few minutes before gently pushing the reformed daredevil mare away. "Now, it is late. You ought to head to bed. After all, Miss Pie has promised that tomorrow's party will be one heck of a bash. Gotta save your energy," I finish with a grin. A grin that is mirrored on Lightning's face as she quickly zooms to her room. I then notice the (slight) mess on the table and the floor underneath it. I let out a low sigh. _'And there's you karma for earlier, you silly captain. Better get to work then hit the sack yourself.'_

As I clean up the mess and watch the dishes, I grin to myself once more. I can't wait to see the look on our daughter's face when I unveil the special surprise for tomorrow. It's going to be quite a night to remember for both my lover and our child.

 **And done! First of the short series of one-shot and filler stories is done. Once again this mini-sequel will be about what happens between Battleship of Equestria and the next story, which will be called 'Captain of Equestria'. So we will be seeing more of Captain Jacob, Princess Luna, Lightning Dust, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the ponies and men of the battleship** _ **USS Fuso**_ **. I don't know how many there are, but I will only post the full sequel after I cover the main bases, such as the issue dealing with Princess Cadence and the Crystal Empire. Feel free to PM me about any possible request and/or leave them in the review section below! Plan on updating either once a month or two weeks, not sure just yet as my senior year in high school is getting all crazy. Anyways, next chapter will be the Fourth of July themed. See you next time on Crew of the Battleship!**


	2. Important Update Information!

**IMORTANT UPDATE FROM MORGOTHII!**

 **I have decided to put this on semi-hiatus. The reason is that I will also be working on the full-on sequel starting this week. I will post once a month or two for this story (though that plan might change in the future) and once every two weeks for the main sequel, which will be titled 'Captain of Equestria'. Stay in touch and read, review, and enjoy what I have so far of 'Crew of the Battleship' and 'Battleship of Equestria', and pm any ideas to me.**

 **Until Next time...**

 **MorgothII**


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